Improvement in feeding water to steam-boilers



. y UNITED STATES PATENT Ortner.

THOMAS CHAMPION, OF IVASI-IINGTON, DISTRIOT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT l FEEDING WATER TO STEAM-BOILERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 12,993, dated June 5,1855.

To all'whom t may concern:

Be 'it known that I, THOMAS CHAMPION, of the city and county ofVashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Steam-Boilers, of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,and in which- Figure l is a vertical section of a boilerembracing myimprovements. Fig. 2 represents an external view of the same. Fig. 3represents a horizontal section taken at theline s s of Fig. l. Fig. 4represents a similarsection taken at the line 0 0 of Fig. l. Fig. 5represents a section through the line R R near the top of Fig. l. Fig. Grepresents a side View or elevation of a horizontal-cylinderfine-boilerY with my improvement attached. Fig. 7 is a front View ofFig. G.

' My'invention consists in placing a hollow tube or tubes within theinterior of the boiler above the water-line, made to suit the form ofthe boiler, having many small exit apertures or fissures made through itat shortintervals, so directed as to sprinkle all the inner surface ofthe boiler that is bare or likely to become bare of water while tire isacting on the opposite sides of the plates.

The boiler shown most conspicuously in the drawing is of the uprightvariety, and consists of an external shell A, which, together with itschimney B, may be made of sheet iron. lVithin this shell there isanother shell O, the dome of which forms the steamspace, and the space Dbetween these two shells conducts the smoke and gases to the chimney Band the channel Q, to be forced by the exhaust-steam from the pipes IIand I to the ash-pit IV beneath the grate G to supply combustion to thefuel. There is a furnace K and a doubleconical shell .I and .Vextendingfrom the bottom to the top of the boiler, uniting with the shell O aboveand below by any suitable means that will insure the requisite strengthto the several parts. The iiues E conduct part of the heat and productsof combustion through the water-space F from the conical furnace to heatthe shell O and its dome on the outside, that all the heat may be saved.

The grate G of the furnace K consists of a scroll, being hollow, andsupported upon tubes orcross-bars in any suitable Way. The transversesection of this grate-tube in this instance is round, but may be made ofany other form that will suit the purposes of the hollow scroll-grate. Ipropose to make the grate in one piece with the convolutions regular,commeneing at the center and winding horizontally therefrom till ascroll-grate is formed, with one or more coils round above the gratenext to the fire-box plates, and then joining its end to a tube L, whichpasses out of the boiler and connects with the feed-pump or supply-pipe,having an aperture through it in the Water-space fitted with a Valveopening inward, which valve is closed by the pressure of the waterpassing in from the pump, but will open and admitthe water from thelower water-jacket when the pump is not feeding. The inner end of thegrate-tube is joined lto another tube M, which passes up into thesteam-space of the boiler and connects with the sprinkling-tube N, whichis made to suit the size and form of that region of the boiler, piercedwith apertures in the proper direction to eject the water in small dropsor spray on one side of the plates,where lire is acting on the oppositeside above the water, whether it be flue, dome, or any other surface,thus supplying a free communicatioe to the internal surfaces that areotherwise bare of water through the grate and sprinkling-tube, whetherthe pump is feeding or not. There is another tube V attached to theunder side of the grate to allow the dirt to settle into, where it maybe blown out. The tube 1I is a branch of the exhaust-pipo, which ispassed in round the lower part. of the tire-jacket D, pierced on itsupper side with many holes or fissures for the escape of exhaust-steamto assist the draft and mingle with the products of combustion to beforced through the channel@ by the exhaust through the branch I from theengine beneath the grate round and round.

The advantages of this construction of grate, besides supplying theboiler through it, saving heat, and having no joints in the furnace:Leakage isthereby prevented. Itis far more durable, answering all thepurposes of a heater, allowing the pump to supply with cold Water, whichsupply is far more certain than when het Water is used, and the coldwater passing in through the coils round and round close to thefurnace-plates cools them, and thereby prevents their destruction-adesideratum long sought for in boilerfurnace plates, and it effeetuallyprecludes the possibility of cold water suddenly entering the boiler tocreate an explosion. Neither is it likely to choke with dirt, having ablowpipe attached below to discharge the sediment.

An aperture X is made in the tube L where it passes through thewater-space between the furnace and force-pump, which is fitted with avalve opening inward, which valve will close when the pump is feeding bythe pressure upon it, and will open when there is no feed-water passingin from the pump, and admit the water from the leg to flow freelythrough the grate and tube into the boiler when the pump is notfeeding,and this will be caused by the pressure of the water in the boiler atthe aperture and valve, assisted by the tendency of the hot water andvapors in the tube to pass upward into the boiler, and this is anotheradvantage incident to the scroll-grate, the circulation of the water inthe boiler being continuous and not dependent alone on the action of theforce-pump. An exit sprinkling-tube N is placed in the boiler near thetop, which communicates below with the pipe, coils, or scrollgrate. Saidtube is perforated with man y exit-apertures at the proper angles tospray or sprinkle all the internal surfaces that are liable to beoverheated by fire acting ou the plates above the water, thusprevent-ing all the explosions that take place in consequence of thewater on one side of the plates falling belowT where fire is acting onthe other side of the same. The saving of heat and fuel by thisarrangement will be immense, and of life and property incalculable. Bymeans of this sprinkler, no matter if the water should be reduced farbelow the upper fire-surface while the water in the boiler remains abovethe valve X, there is no danger of explosion, because all the waterenters the boiler through the sprinkler.

The tubes H and I convey the exhauststeam from the engine in round thelower part of the fire-jacket for the escape of the exhaust-steamthrough small apertures (in small quantities to assist the draft andmingle with the gases) in the jacket and passage, while the pipe Ienters in the cold-air pipe through the chimney, which pipe admits freshair to enter in round the exhaustpipe to mingle with the heat, smoke,and gas, all to be forced and mixed with the exhauststeam from thebranch I through the channel beneath the grate round and round, savingall the heat without any loss of power in driving a blower. I havedescribed the scrollgrate as being round, but thatneed not necessarilybe so unless to suit the boiler, asin this instancel propose to make theconvolutions oval or approaching the square. I have also made thesprinkling-tube in the form of acircle to suit the present verticalboiler; but I propose to apply this method to long flue-boilers, asshown in the drawings, and to all other forms. I also propose to applymy divisional exhaust-pipe to all other forms with the channel over thetop or between or alongside or under horizontal boilers.

Various other modilications may be made in the construction of theseveral parts without changing the character of my improvements; but assuch changes as these are obvious I do not deem it necessary to describthem further in detail.

XVhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

Supplying steam-boilers with all their water through a sprinkler that isconnected with the lower water-space and feed-pipe by a valve X at theirjunction, which allows the water that passes up through the sprinkler tojet the plates when the pump is not acting and so long as any waterremains in the boiler above the fire or feed-pipe, substantially in themannerand for the purpose set forth.

THOMAS CHAMPION.

Witnesses: l

A. B. SroUGHToN, THOMAS H. UPPERMAN.

